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2017 Nov 09

Waha Capital Q3 net profit rises 3.5% to AED 84.7 million

ABU DHABI, 9 November 2017: Waha Capital PJSC, a leading investment company based in Abu Dhabi (ADX: WAHA), has reported an increase of 3.5 percent year on year to AED 84.7 million, with the company’s capital markets funds contributing strong returns.

Total income reported by the group for the quarter which ended 30 September 2017 rose 6.58 percent to AED 266.5 million. This was largely due to higher income from the company’s investments in its own fixed income and equity funds, which are also offered to third-party investors.

Income from financial investments, which include holdings in its capital markets funds, increased 80.3 percent to AED 93.2 million in the third quarter. The funds continued their strong performance, with the Waha MENA Equity Fund providing a 15.0 percent total return in the first nine months of 2017, and the Waha CEEMEA Fixed Income Fund producing a total return of 12.9 percent in the same period.

“The company continues to perform well across the board, and we are particularly pleased with the growing contribution from our asset management business. Assets under management have grown considerably in the last year, as we have attracted third-party investors and deployed more of our own capital, in-line with our strategy to diversify our assets and revenue streams. The funds have continued to outperform, enhancing their impressive track record. Our focus is to continue to build our private equity, capital markets and private debt businesses, while ensuring that we create further value across our principal investments portfolio.”

Meanwhile, total expenses for the quarter fell to AED 170.2 million from AED 176.4 million during the same period in 2016.

Assets rose to AED 10.91 billion as at the end of the third quarter, from AED 10.01 billion as of 31 December 2016.

Portfolio overview:

At the end of the third quarter, the principal investments business carried out the acquisition of a significant minority stake in Dubai-based fintech firm Channel VAS (CVAS), for which the contributions to Waha Capital’s total income will commence in the fourth quarter. CVAS provides micro finance lending solutions to over 500 million mobile network subscribers, in over 25 emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.

In the three-month period, Waha Capital’s stake in New York-listed aircraft leasing company AerCap increased to 16.99 percent from 15.23 percent, as a result of a decision not to participate in a share buy-back programme. Following a conservative reassessment of the recoverable amount during the quarter, Waha Capital’s share of AerCap’s income of AED 169 million was adjusted downward by AED 68 million; resulting net income of AED 101 million; compared to AED 148 million last year.

On its part, Anglo Arabian Healthcare also expanded through the opening of a new multi-speciality medical complex in Dubai under the HealthBay Polyclinic brand. The clinic enhances the capacity for cross-referral within the healthcare group, which is benefitting from strong demand growth in the UAE.

Oil and gas services firm NPS Holdings Ltd continued to perform well in the quarter, securing and extending contracts worth AED 287.6 million to take current contracts in progress to nearly AED 2.1 billion.

Work to expand Waha Land’s ALMARKAZ light industrial and logistics real estate development is progressing well, with new units scheduled to be ready for occupancy in the first quarter of 2018. The units are part of stage two of the development, which will include flexible industrial buildings, ready-to-occupy industrial units, warehouse and storage facilities, as well as commercial office and retail units to serve the growing working population at ALMARKAZ.